2:59 AM,
Jun. 22, 2013

David Medine, chairman of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, attends a meeting Friday at the White House.

Written by

Julie Pace
and Josh Lederman

Taking steps to temper public concern, President Barack Obama held his first meeting Friday with a privacy and civil liberties board as his intelligence chief sought ways to help Americans understand more about the government's sweeping surveillance efforts.

The five members of the obscure Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board huddled with Obama in the White House Situation Room, questioning the president on two National Security Agency programs that have stoked controversy after the extent of U.S. phone and Internet records the government collects were publicly disclosed. ...